VALEDICTORY AT OPOTIKI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8958, 16 August 1892, Page 6

VALEDICTORY AT OPOTIKI.

The Rev. G. Maunsell, of the Church Missionary Society, who has been actively engaged in missionary work among the natives of the Bay Plenty and Uriwera districts, is leaving here by the outgoing seamer en route for England. He is accompanied by Mrs. Maunsell and family, and proposes to be absent about a year, hoping to recruit his health by the long voyage and complete change. On Monday evening the committee of the Opotiki Gospel Temperance Society entertained the Rev. gentleman and Mrs. Maunsell to a farewell tea. The Rev. John Gow presided. After tea the following address, which is to be illuminated and forwarded to Mrs. Maunsell in England was read by the rev. chairman : — To Mrs. Maunsell, —On the occasion of your leaving for England, we, the Committee of Management of the Opotiki Gospel Temperance Mission, desire to express our sincere respect for you personally and our deep appreciation of the valuable services which you have rendered to the cause of temperance in ronnection with our society. Esp cially do we desire to note the cheerfulness wi h which you have ever put at our disposal your superior musical accomplishments; with what selfdenying assiduity you have successfully laboured in the management of the Band of Hope, and how many hippy evenings you have with your young charge afforded to the members of our society and to the public generally. Our fervent prayer is that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may conduct you and Mr. Maunsell with your dear children safely to your desired destination, and in due time bring you back recruited and cheerful to renew your good work in the midst of us. Speeches were then made by the Rev. J. U. Russell, Messrs. Cooper, John Gordon, Lilewall, and J. P. Murray. All spoke in praise of the active interest Mrs. Maunsell had taken in the Society, more particularly in the Band of Hope, and accorded her and Mr. Maunsell and family the best wishes of the Society for a prosperous journey and safe return. The Rev. G. Maunsell, in a most appropriate speech, returned thanks on behalf of Mrs. Maunsell for the address. The Society also presented Mrs. Maunsell with a volume of music as a parting memento. The Rev. G. Maunsell has earned the best thanks of the Church of England community here for the aid he has always been willing to give to St. Stephen's Church at times when the incumbent has been absent.—[Own Correspondent.]